What I Wish I Did to Prepare for PhD Studies…

Here are a few important things I recommend doing in preparation for a New Testament PhD:

If you are currently in seminary or another MA program and are planning to just go straight through, get lots of rest before you come. Recharge those batteries before jumping in again. It’s better to hit the ground running than to be run into the ground before you start. I had a 3 year break, so that wasn’t an issue for me.

Read through the entire NT in Greek–Here’s a proposed reading list from easiest to hardest I got from Dan Wallace. We do surprisingly little Greek reading in seminary (in the grand scheme of things), even at DTS–I can only imagine it at other seminaries. Get Zondervan’s Reader’s Greek New Testament. This has revolutionalized my Greek reading, making it so much easier. I’m about 2/3 or 3/4 of the way through, and I spend about 3 hrs a week (~1 chapter a day) just trying to make it through this goal. But I wish I were doing that directly in my area of study and not just the basics first. Tools I use: RGNT, a parsing chart, a note card with prepositions, and an analytical lexicon. (Parsing chart: I use one from BibleWorks that has the Greek verb paradigms on one side and the Hebrew on the other, always free at their stand at ETS or SBL. Prepositions: has those that use multiple cases or hard to remember (e.g., περι). Analytical lexicon: I’ve got one that’s 20 yrs old, but it’s got every inflected word in the GNT and it gives its parsing, etc. It’s for those oh so frequent irregular verbs.) I’ve gotten to where the Analytical Lexicon is not as necessary, but it’s good to use it up front when you don’t know a word/form. You’ll just keep seeing over and over again, so you might as well understand it. Also getting down into the 10 (or even 5) word occurances in the NT would be helpful, see Trenchard’s list or even better–buy a PDA and use PDA Scholar’s flash cards–there are several lists that come with the program (Greek, Hebrew, German, French, Arabic, etc.). It would be well worth your money.

Learn German, at least get the basic paradigms and grammar down so you can read with a dictionary. There’s just so much NT study (esp. in Pauline studies) that’s in German, and you’re only hobbled by your lack of ability to work with those texts up front. We’re using Manton’s Intro to Theological German. It’s a totally horrible format for lots of things, but it does get through the major points in a quick manner. A couple of students here have recommended April Wilson’s German Quickly, noting that although it is humanities based, it has quite a few theological texts to translate. Once you go through that, Ziefle’s Modern Theological German: Reader and Dictionary is really helpful to get you through some texts (biblical and theological). I did some self-study before coming to the UK with Reading German (Coles & Dodd)–recommended by the German teacher at DTS. It was helpful, but I could see it as a good follow-up to Manton’s book because it goes into a good bit more detail. Also, it’s not focued on Theological German. Again PDA Scholar is a must for vocab. Here is an extensive list of German-English Vocab that I pulled together.

So far that’s about it. You could always read more, but you’ll get time for that when you’re here. That’s why you’re coming, right?

p.s. I had planned to do more with the German and Greek, and wasn’t disciplined enough. Write out a plan and give it to somebody to keep you accountable. Heck, do what I did–go with less $$ for a few months and only work 4 days a week, so you can have an extra day to beef up your language skills. (One caveat, get your spouse’s approval first.) That way you can take full advantage of your study time here, and not have 20%+ of your study time filled with preparing-to-study-time. Also, moving overseas, if that’s in the plans, does take a bit of preparation, so that extra day a week also helps in that area as well.

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21 Responses to “What I Wish I Did to Prepare for PhD Studies…”

You’re doing us all (at least me) a great service Ben. Thanks. I’m reading through the NT right now with Zondervan’s reader too, and you’re right, it is excellent. And I’m working thru Manton! I’m glad to see you recommend these things before starting doc work. Keep it coming, I’m all ears.

Man,that just reminds me of the horrors of 203 Greek with Wallace. I think I actually did well in that class, but it did require much sweat and toil. By the end of that sememster I decided I had a good handle on intermediate Greek but I just couldn’t hang it with advanced studies–much props to you man.

I do agree with you about taking a break before heading straight to PhD. In my case, I took a break before heading to another MA but I think it was well worth it. It helps a great deal to get those batteries recharged.

As for German, I think I’ll avoid that at all costs. At UD, I think they require an Ancient and Modern language. This summer I’ll do Latin for the ancient part, and I’ll probably do French instead of German for the modern part (sorry Kant). Keep it up, man!

I suppose it’s all relative. I had been going to school full-time (with jobs on top of that for the last half) for 10 years–counting undergrad and grad schools–so I needed a break because I wouldn’t have enjoyed more studies at the time. While my programs were a little longer than most, my experience didn’t seem too much different from others. If you’ve got gas in the tank, then I’d say go for it. But if it’s already pretty low, then it may not hurt to take a year off, especially if you have a family.

Hmmm. That takes me beyond my limited subject knowledge, but I suppose the idea would be to find that body of texts which are important for everyone in your area and read those. Sorry I can’t be more help. Anybody else got ideas?

Well, I’m not a seminary student or anything. Just a software developer and ultra-conservative Presbyterian layman, with a side interest in Biblical and Ancient Near East studies, Greek and Hebrew and other crazy things.

I’ve been reading through my GNT (Zondervan Reader’s GNT) once a year for the last 2-3 years so far. Used Wallace for Intermediate Greek, and Metzger for vocab. I also do a little Greek reading in the LXX and ECF.

But now that Greek and Hebrew are under control, I have to decide whether to go forward in time with Medieval Latin, or backwards in time with Aramaic/etc. And for the life of me, I can’t decide which. And oh yeah, if I go backwards in time, German starts rearing its ugly head too.

If you were only doing NT, I’d say German, but I’m gonna vote for Latin as well. There are just not that many Germans that do patristics as there are for NT. I’d say the weight shifts towards French (from German) for patristics, so less secondary stuff to read anyway.

The other thing, the basics of German are easier to pick up than Latin. The nouns are similar between Latin and Greek, but I think the verb system is much more complex in Latin. At the same time, German has regular and irregular verbs (like English), but on the whole it’s not as difficult. Some of the phrasing in German is awkward, e.g., preposed participle phrases, but every language has stuff that will trip you up.

And to pragmatics, you’ll find more online translators to help you with your German than you will with Latin.

[…] great advice. I found Ph.D Preparation by Dr. Daniel J. Treier and Ben Blackwell’s What I Wish I Did to Prepare for Ph.D. Studies most helpful. Share:TwitterFacebookEmailLike this:LikeBe the first to like this […]

Seems all comments focused on NT PhD studies…what about OT…any recommendations? Anybody know which languages schools usually require for OT studies? Is it German, French, etc? I have earned MDiv and want to continue on while I’m still “in the flow.”

German and French are pretty standard across the humanities (not just Biblical Studies). Depending on the program and nature of your dissertation, Modern Hebrew might be suggested or required (it would probably take the place of French) However, I’m not an OT guy so you should confirm that.

[…] families!) preparing to move overseas. While searching through his thoughts, I came across his suggestions for preparation before beginning the PhD. He has a number of good thoughts that I’ve added to my own […]

Thanks for posting this! I’ve done my Th.M 10 years ago and been overseas as a missionary (wife). Now I am considering to pursue PhD. It’s been so long since I graduated from my seminary and I didn’t know where to start, then I found your post. Your posting is greatly appreciated.